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There weren't many downsides to last year's HP Spectre 13. HP made a competent and uniquely stylish notebook that provided a lot of power, connectivity, and battery life in a thin-and-light shell. But HP had bigger plans for the Spectre line, and, after a bit more self-editing, the company has developed the 2017 Spectre 13 notebook.

On the surface, this seems like a relatively minor spec update with 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake processors inside, in place of the 7th-generation CPUs in the previous model. However, the new Spectre 13 offers more than just a spec jump: HP figured out how to shrink the device's footprint while adding more power and features, without removing anything crucial from the original's blueprint.

Design

The new Spectre 13 isn't radically different from the original that came out last year, but it looks and feels like a very different laptop. The framework is nearly the same as the original, though: a 13.3-inch display held up by C-shaped metallic hinges that are attached to a CNC aluminum and carbon fiber chassis. HP refined the design to be more angular than the original device and with a smaller footprint. The corners on the new Spectre 13 are noticeably sharper, yet still rounded, and the chassis' edges have an elegant slant.

Ars had the ceramic white and gold model to review, and it's a bright, upscale change of pace for HP. The new Spectre 13 comes in the company's traditional dark ash and copper colorway, but the ceramic white truly makes a statement. HP used an "advanced electro deposition" coating to fuse metal and paint to create a matte white finish on the chassis and lid. It's smooth to the touch, doesn't capture fingerprints much, and is somewhat reminiscent of the new Google Pixelbook's aesthetic. However, where Google went subdued, HP went stylish—the soft gold accents make the entire laptop look chic without being garish.

Specs at a glance: HP Spectre 13 2017 (as reviewed)

Screen

13.3-inch FHD IPS LED touchscreen

OS

Windows 10, 64 bit

CPU

Intel Core i7-8850U (1.8GHz)

RAM

8GB

HDD

256GB SSD

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Networking

802.11b/g/n/ac (2x2) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 combo

Ports

2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, 1 USB Type C 3.1 port, audio combo jack

Size

12.79 x 9.01 x 0.4 inches

Weight

2.45 pounds

Battery

4-cell 43Whr

Warranty

1 year

Starting price

$1,299

Price as reviewed

$1,399

Other perks

IR front-facing camera

The Spectre 13 is nearly identical in dimensions to its predecessor, measuring 12.79 x 9.01 x 0.4 inches, but HP did shave a tiny bit off its length and width. That's commendable considering the updated model has quad-core, 8th-generation Intel CPUs, compared to the dual-core 7th-generation processors in the previous Spectre 13. The laptop's weight has increased ever so slightly to 2.45 pounds from 2.43 pounds, which HP made a point to mention is about the equivalent weight of a No.2 pencil. The new Spectre 13 is still a super-thin, super-light laptop that, even when refined, doesn't take up much space on your lap or on your desk.

Touchscreen—yay or nay?

HP also managed to slim down the Spectre 13 even after adding a touchscreen panel, an option that wasn't offered in the original. You couldn't get a touchscreen on any configuration of the previous ultrabook, but HP has made it standard with the new Spectre 13. HP representatives expressed their happiness about that because the company wanted to add a touchscreen option to the original Spectre 13 but couldn't do so. At the time, the company focused on making a thin-and-light ultrabook that didn't compromise power, and apparently a touchscreen wasn't a feature with which it wanted to (potentially) compromise the design.

But laptops have evolved before and since then and so have laptop manufacturers like HP. According to the company's research, 83 percent of premium-notebook customers choose touchscreen devices, and HP wanted the Spectre 13 to be an option for that group. My feelings about touchscreen laptops have evolved over the past few years as well. I prefer to use touchscreens on two-in-one devices like HP's Spectre x360 or the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga. It feels more natural to flip the device into tent or tablet mode before tapping away at the screen, rather than doing so on a screen that's tilted at about 120 degrees. After testing many convertibles, I periodically find myself reflexively tapping at my MacBook Air's display expecting something to happen.

While using the Spectre 13, I didn't use the touchscreen often, but I did use it. Touch provided a quicker way to switch between Edge tabs without me needing to swipe my cursor up to the top of the browser and selecting e-mails to delete en masse. Touch on the new Spectre still feels a bit unnatural since the display bounces back slightly when I tap the screen (I like to call this the "tap wobble"). However, the touch response on the 13's screen is great; I never had to tap more than once on an icon or tab to complete the action I wanted. As someone who still uses a non-touchscreen laptop as her primary device, a touchscreen isn't something I desperately want my laptop to have. But it is a feature I'd use if it were available to me at no extra cost.

Another change to the screen will be seen as a welcome option for some: the touchscreen comes in FHD and 4K configurations, with the 4K display adding $150 to the price of the notebook. The original Spectre 13 did not have a 4K display option; while it doesn't come standard like touch functionality does, a specific subset of users will want to shell out the extra cash for the 4K option.

Further Reading

Internals and ports

HP shrank the bezels surrounding the touchscreen, too: the top bezel, which holds the IR webcam, measures 9.7mm (down from 16.04mm), and the two side bezels measure 5.3mm (down from 15.03). The bottom bezel remains much larger than the rest, but this is the case on many currently available ultrabooks. Thankfully, HP didn't move the webcam to the larger bottom bezel like Dell insists on doing on some of its XPS PCs. Keeping the webcam at the top of the display avoids that up-the-nose angle that the Dell XPS 13 gives you when you're video chatting.

Aside from the quad-core CPU bump, HP redesigned the internals in the Spectre 13 to fit a 66-percent larger speaker tuned by Bang & Olufsen. The speaker grilles no longer hug the keyboard on either side but sit at the top of the keyboard just below the hinge. That's the most significant change to the look of the keyboard and trackpad area, and it looks similar to the orientation of the Huawei Matebook X's keyboard area. Compared to the original Spectre 13, this new construction gives the entire laptop a more compact and efficient-looking design.

Also on the inside of the new Spectre 13 is a new IR thermal sensor that HP claims will help prevent the device from getting hot. The new sensor predicts when the device will get warm so it can run the fans less often and more quietly before any overheating happens. The top-center portion of the chassis' underside definitely felt warm to the touch after a few hours of use, but I wouldn't call it uncomfortably hot. The temperature change was almost undetectable when I was using the Spectre 13 perched on my lap—I had to feel it with my bare hands to know it was warm at all.

The port positioning hasn't changed from the previous model: the back edge of the Spectre 13 holds two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one USB Type-C 3.1 port, and a singular audio combo jack. The slanted edges around the chassis make it impossible to stick any ports on the laptop's sides, so the thicker back bar is the only place for them. HP also includes a bunch of USB Type-C adaptors in the box, so the transition to the dongle life will be a bit easier and less expensive with the new Spectre 13 than with other laptops.

The power button sits at the top-left corner above the keys and below the speaker grille, and it's a super-slim, rectangular button that fits in well with the rest of the sharp, golden accents. The only thing missing is a fingerprint sensor, which is a bummer for anyone who has gotten used to all forms of Windows Hello biometric security. I wish HP had made the power button large enough to incorporate a fingerprint sensor into it—like Huawei did with the Matebook X—by hiding the tech in a necessary hardware feature. The Spectre 13 does have the IR webcam necessary for facial recognition unlock, so you do have one out of the two secure unlock options available.

The updated HP Spectre 13.

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Audio combo jack.

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Two Thunderbolt 3 ports and one USB Type-C 3.1 port.

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New ceramic white finish with soft gold accents.

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Edge-to-edge keyboard.

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Redesigned power button and new speaker grille placement.

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The new trackpad is 15 percent larger than that on the old model.

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Additional page navigation keys at the far-right.

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Keys have 1.3mm of travel.

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Recognizable curved hinge.

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New design doesn't deviate much from the previous model, but it gives the laptop a fresh look.

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Every configuration comes with a touchscreen as a standard feature.

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Keyboard and trackpad

Further Reading

Thanks to the new speaker grille placement, the Spectre 13 now has an edge-to-edge keyboard that feels more spacious than its predecessor. With 1.3mm of key travel, it's quite comfortable to type on, and the keys don't feel flimsy at all. The speaker redesign really makes a difference, not only in shrinking the overall size of the device, but maximizing key size. Individual keys appear a tad larger than on the old model, and HP added a new row at the far-right side, including Delete, Home, Page Up, Page Down, and End keys. These keys don't make or break a keyboard for me, but they do come in handy for quickly scrolling through webpages or jumping to the top or bottom of a tab.

I also appreciate the dedicated keyboard backlight button, which sits just above the 5 key. Rather than adjusting to changing light conditions, the keyboard is only backlit when you want it to be. The previous Spectre 13 model also had this, and I appreciate HP continuing to give the user all the control over the keyboard backlight, especially since having it on at unwanted times can affect battery life.

Compared to the tiny trackpad on the original Spectre 13, the new trackpad is 15 percent larger. It's more narrow than it is wide, but it's still an improvement over the old trackpad. I felt like I had more space to scroll, swipe, and complete gestures, and it leaves just enough space for the two surrounding palm rests to be comfortable but not feel like wasted space. However, it is a Synaptics trackpad rather than a Microsoft Precision trackpad, so those who live and die by Microsoft gestures may feel stifled.

80 Reader Comments

I find a touch screen on a limited angle "laptop" to be awkward. You end up reaching over the touchpad and it is also hard to be precise with my finger. Maybe just me. But if you could fold the screen over and hold it like a tablet the touch screen becomes much more practical. IMHO.

I like that touch screens are becoming more and more standard. Sure, it's still not fantastic to use on a laptop, but there are still times when it's the most natural thing to do. It's quite frustrating to reach for the screen only for touch not to work on devices that don't have it...

My complaint with these reviews is that they always lack any mention of Linux compatibility. For me and maybe all Linux users that's going to be the deciding factor: how straightforward is the installation on this hardware? are there any missing drivers? is there anything that is not going to work?

I'm currently looking for a new laptop, I've almost decided to get the Lemur from System76 but I'm still looking around, and that kind of information, which is basically asking if it's going to work for me, is the first thing I look for when I evaluate a laptop.

Some of HP's kit is fairly decent. The Zbook series can be a good portable worktstation when kitted out properly.

You can't beat the elite book series. I had a 6910p, 6930p, 8440p, and 8470p. They were solid machines. My kid still runs the 8470p. Only downfall was the air intake hole on the bottom was too small causing high velocity airflow. (Rather than a large hole with less velocity and greater volume.) So about every year or so you have to drop the bottom case cover and clean the heat-sink. I have returned to the dark side now and have a Lenovo P-fitty. It was pricey, but with two m.2 slots and one for SATA, along with 4 DIMM slots it is one hell of a machine.

I like that touch screens are becoming more and more standard. Sure, it's still not fantastic to use on a laptop, but there are still times when it's the most natural thing to do. It's quite frustrating to reach for the screen only for touch not to work on devices that don't have it...

That's my experience as well.

At first, the touchscreen on my laptop was a novelty. Over time, just like the article says, it become more natural.

And now, whenever I'm on a laptop that has no touchscreen, I often touch the screen out of habit, especially when on web browsers, only to be disappointed when nothing happens.

I like that touch screens are becoming more and more standard. Sure, it's still not fantastic to use on a laptop, but there are still times when it's the most natural thing to do. It's quite frustrating to reach for the screen only for touch not to work on devices that don't have it...

That's my experience as well.

At first, the touchscreen on my laptop was a novelty. Over time, just like the article says, it become more natural.

And now, whenever I'm on a laptop that has no touchscreen, I often touch the screen out of habit, especially when on web browsers, only to be disappointed when nothing happens.

Same. Used a non-touch laptop at work after having touchscreen on my personal laptops for a few years now. When I wanted to pause my music, I instinctively reached up to the screen and tapped the pause button. It took me a second to realize why that didn't actually work.

Not having a fingerprint reader is a downside for some, but it doesn't seem damning enough to add it to the "The Ugly" section. If there's no deal breakers, I'd say just leave that section out of the review.

My complaint with these reviews is that they always lack any mention of Linux compatibility. For me and maybe all Linux users that's going to be the deciding factor: how straightforward is the installation on this hardware? are there any missing drivers? is there anything that is not going to work?

I'm currently looking for a new laptop, I've almost decided to get the Lemur from System76 but I'm still looking around, and that kind of information, which is basically asking if it's going to work for me, is the first thing I look for when I evaluate a laptop.

Dell usually sells their laptops with the option for Linux instead of Windows.

Lol, I so do the touch the Macbook Air screen thing. We have a Surface Pro for PC testing and a 2015 Macbook Air for OSX testing and after I get done with all my PC tests and switch over to the Air I find myself trying to launch by tap, and then I'll go to the touchpad, do my testing, switch browsers and again on muscle memory try to tap to launch. My coworkers bag on me so badly for it, glad I'm not alone =)

No reason for the "ugly" section, agreed with earlier poster TheNewShiny. Ars needs to stop doing that instead of making their reviews worse by needlessly adhering to a cutesy movie title callback.

Re: Linux / KingDuckZ - I don't have the new model, but I'm running Mint 18 / Sonya on the 2015 13t-4100 Spectre 360 w/touchscreen. Only complaint so far is that touch-screen in webpages doesn't scroll the pages, instead it acts as if you'd clicked a mouse and are selecting text in blocks as you move your finger.

Re: USB ports - I wish they went back to having a couple USB-A ports and HDMI. The reality of USB-C is that it's not a mature ecosystem, and I don't want to keep living in dongle-land. At work we've gone back to buying machines with USB-A and HDMI instead of the USB-C-Only laptops that we tried to make useful. Just too many problems, too inconvenient. Once more devices support direct USB-C connections (projectors, keyboards, monitors), that problem will go away, but for now it's just a bad user experience. (see obligatory: https://marco.org/2017/10/14/impossible-dream-of-usb-c )

Not having a fingerprint reader is a downside for some, but it doesn't seem damning enough to add it to the "The Ugly" section. If there's no deal breakers, I'd say just leave that section out of the review.

I would agree that it doesn't belong in the "ugly" section, but I like that at least some websites are calling it out as bad.

People still use shitty passwords for their login and with a PC it's even more trivial to pull the disk and brute-force a shitty password than it is one a phone, because even everything-soldered-on ultrabooks are often using M.2 drives that you can just plug into another computer.

I'm still disappointed that Apple hasn't made a fingerprint-reader-power-button standard on their laptops, though they finally made them available at all on the touchbar Macbook Pros.

Huawei is using one in their fantastic MateBook X and from the reviews it seems to work as flawlessly as you'd expect.HP has a fingerprint reader in their Elite X3 smartphone, so they know how to do it.

The only thing keeping laptop makers from deploying these things at scale is that people aren't expecting them, unlike on smartphones, and thus aren't miffed at their exclusion.

Not having a fingerprint reader is a downside for some, but it doesn't seem damning enough to add it to the "The Ugly" section. If there's no deal breakers, I'd say just leave that section out of the review.

At the same time, most competitors in this price range do offer a fingerprint sensor, so it's a notable omission from this laptop. Every review is inherently subjective, so someone may think that omission is worthy of scorn. If you don't agree, just scroll on.

It has a headphone jack? How gauche. Do they think this is 2015? Are they running around with iPhone 6's? They could have saved half a mm by getting rid of it. This just makes it fat and not in a good way. ..... Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Anyway, as someone else said, no USB-A and HDMI? No thanks. I would add RJ-45 as wanted as well. We have been getting the new Dell's with port replicator dongle instead of dedicated dock and it is not going so well.

Some of HP's kit is fairly decent. The Zbook series can be a good portable worktstation when kitted out properly.

you obviously are not someone who repairs these piles of junk. Try working at a place that has a contract with HP... I have experience with not just the shit that I have owned and my family and friends. Try over 8000 users and over 7 square miles of garbage HP laptops. Even their 'high end' or 'industrial' notebooks are garbage. It's just low quality trash. They never last anywhere near as long as an equivalent from some other manufacturers. I'd hate to waste money on anything HP and i'll never recommend it. It's bad when you run stress tests on a brand new one and it fails. They often ship with slow sectors on the hdd, not to mention the bloatware, lack of service after the sale, etc.

anyone with half a grain of common sense and integrated circuit knowledge knows that longevity of chips is directly tied to excellent cooling solutions, and high quality clean power... this has neither.

ULV quad + full 4 lane TB3 would be interesting, if it's gimped to 2 lanes like Dells, less so.

IIRC, any device with two ports side by side uses the 4 full lanes.

Dell and a few others gimped their systems by using 2 lanes on 2 port models. God only knows why but they did. So you can't be guaranteed a particular model is 4 lanes until someone verifies it. The place to check a particular model is https://egpu.io/ because users test and report their findings. Manufacturers are absolutely lousy about reporting specific details like this.

Both models (2500U and 2700U) are 15W parts. They are intended to compete against Intel's U series mobile processors.

Specifically, they have a variable TDP option which starts at 15W but can go up to 25W and down to 9W, depending on what the manufacturer needs. Acer's Swift 3 (end of article) will have the 25W option, as well as dual-channel RAM, which you probably want to keep that APU fed. [Ars, please review!]

Might be a good replacement for my X120e with an E-350. But I'm even more interested in the desktop APUs planned to come out in February, with 65-95W to play with, especially if they add a HBM2 stack.

Re: Linux / KingDuckZ - I don't have the new model, but I'm running Mint 18 / Sonya on the 2015 13t-4100 Spectre 360 w/touchscreen. Only complaint so far is that touch-screen in webpages doesn't scroll the pages, instead it acts as if you'd clicked a mouse and are selecting text in blocks as you move your finger.

That's easily fixed.

Chrome has great touchscreen support, proper scrolling, with swiping from left/right edges moving through your browser history (back/forward)

For my use case, a touch-screen on the a laptop (in this case a early 2017 Spectre X360) is essential. I fly well over 100k a year and given the crowded seat conditions on airplanes it's wrist wrenching to try and use the touchpad as it's usually being jammed into my stomach area. So my fingers become my mouse and it works so much better than trying to use a touchpad.

I also do a lot of sketch style drawings to describe technical configurations to my customers with the stylus but that's a whole different deal.